Amph It's a City, Not a Yo-Yo: Stargate Atlantis (Spoilers Allowed)

The latter did cross my mind, but, after 200, I get the impression that TPTB have embraced the running joke notion that we'll never see the Furlings. But good call on Deadman Switch- there is a lot of similarity there, though his armor had a decidedly Goa'uld feel to it- there could be some kind of connection/scavenged tech there.

http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-55212

I don't think the narrative break will be a factor, and no more so for Deadman Switch than Foothold, as they're the same season- Foothold's 8 episodes "newer"

 

Last night's episode was better than I expected (Keller kidnapped again?). Mostly from Ronon's interaction with McKay, and his continual amusement at the traps the other runner set- some of which was were quite neat (the swinging spiked-log scene in particular was great). My favorite scene, though, was the scene towards the end when the Wraith charges at Rodney who fires a few rounds into the Wraith, runs out of ammo, and the Wraith resumes his charge "oh CRAP!".

The other runner was also a neat idea, and the way Ronon briefly related to him was solid. A shame we probably won't see him again, even though we probably would have had we gotten Season 6.

Kudos also for making the Wraith threatening and scary again. The psycho-persistence of trackers is really intimidating. The Wraith have rarely ever been scary or threatening, especially in a post-Michael/Todd episode so it was refreshing to have their threatening nature return.

 

Very good episode- the Rodney/Jackson exhcnages were great. The Wraith/Todd were creepy and dangerous seeming, the new enemy is refreshing (in that they're a technological military force instead of, say, anacaristic armor designs, nor swarming bots) and they managed to still, after all this time, come up with a new Gate problem scenario.

There has to be a Foothold connection here- the Predator self destruct bit in the chest seems very similar.

 

I'm going to try avoiding that particular spoiler, I think.

EDIT- Damnit, I'm weak-willed.

So, yeah....NO FREAKING WAY!!!


EDIT 2- I didn't catch the meaning of Daniel's one line towards the end there-

Daniel: Well, 10 minutes and we're still here.

McKay: Oh boy-

Daneil: What?

McKay: I think I just found a log that tells us what the side-effect is...

Daniel: It's not... (backing away from the console) -harmful radiation, is it?

 

They needed the Ancient gene, apparently.

 

Well, IIRC, Atlantis itself powered up corridor lights, computers and stuff automatically after it detected humans/lifeforms, so this outpost could be the same thing- it's just specific Ancient tech that requires the gene to use- puddlejumpers, chairs, this new Altero Device, etc.

That only leaves their ship- which is apparently Ancient in design or origin (thus able to pass through the shield, as they pointed out; not to mention there are design similarities to an oversized jumper). The Travelers were able to fly Ancient ships without having the gene, right? So perhaps it's not all Ancient craft that requires the gene to fly.

 

Out of curiosity- was it just a random guess or did something in particular tip you off?

 

At first, the suggestion of having it be the "bigger greys" of older Asgards in the suits strikes me as a mega-cool idea, but then that would kinda make their mass-suicide pointless if these pop up a year and a half later. Better that it is the normal smaller greys.

 

Ok, so yeah- another solid episode, though I think Shanks hammed it up one or two times too much. Very interesting how Ronon/Todd/Sheps plans all kind went for and against eahc other at the same time. The splinter Asgard was very good- he even looked different enough and I like how the use of the Asgard theme was a bit more ominous. Gotta love the "and look where that got them" comment.

Also gotta wonder how many stargates exploded- afterall the Atlantis one went up pretty fast, and so did the Traveler one apparently. With how gate travel is fairly common in he Pegasus for trade and travel, there had to be A LOT of gates going boom, as we're looking at several hours of a danger window here. I wonder if this event is the last straw that leads to that upcoming issue where the Pegasus alliance puts SGA on trial for their actions, ina "ok, Gates are blowing up- just what in the hell are you people doing?".

Also loved the little twirling "dance of a dogfight" between the Deluxe-Jumper and the Traveler ship. The newer (I think) shots of the Daedalus also kind ahit home the notion that they really should update the hyperspace stock footage of the Deddy in transit, as the current models used in the newer space shots look a lot more detailed than the one used n the stock hyperspace shots.

However, the interior-helmet shots are obviously Iron Man "inspired"

 

Checking out some casting spoilers for "Vegas" it seems Neil Jackson will be back to play a Wraith being tracked by detective Shep in the story, which sounds very promising- he was great as Khalek in Season 9 and as Marcus in Blade: The Series. Coincidentally, he's also appeared on the actual CSI shows too.

Also, Tapping confirms both SG-1 movie #3 an SGA movie #1 will film at the same time in 2009, and that she may appear in the SGA (but at this time has only agreed to appear in the SG-1 one). She also confirms she'll be appearing in the SGA series finale episode.